5 posts tagged “macbook”
I called the Apple Store in Brent Cross this morning.
Apple Store: “Good morning, Apple Store Brent Cross.”
Me: “Hello. I’ve got a problem with my MacBook Pro. There’s a white spot on the display.”
Apple: “When did you buy it?”
Me: “Around three weeks ago.”
Apple: “Okay. If you have any hardware defects within a month of purchase we will replace the unit. Can you bring it in today? Just bring it up to the tills and ask for Sarah.”
Me: “Great! I’ll come in in the next hour or two. How long will it take you to transfer my data to the new unit?”
Apple: “It could be anything between half a day or 24 hours.”
At around 11am I walked in to the Apple Store and asked for Sarah. She verified the problem and gave me a form to fill out while she went to get the new MacBook Pro. She also told me that it would be ready by 2pm. That’s it. No quibble, no dodging and no uhm’ing-and-ah’ing. I went back at 2.30pm and it was ready.
This is the third time I had to test Apple’s after-sales service. The first time was when my one-week-old MacBook developed a squeak in the screen hinges. They replaced it, moved my extra RAM across (which I didn’t buy from them) as well as my data. I went in at 3pm and the new MacBook was ready at 5pm.
The second time was when I took my wife’s six-month-old white MacBook into the Brent Cross store to replace the palm rests. They were quite discoloured and they asked me to bring it in. They replaced the palm rest, keyboard and screen bezel and it was ready the next day.
In all three instances they didn’t once mention a cost. They were also very courteous and not patronising at the least. Well done Apple UK!
As I posted previously, 10.4.8 has some weird ColorSync profile where everything has a blue bias. The default profile for 10.4.7 is called Color LCD-42717C0.icc which I backed up before installing the update. No surprise, the interface had the blue bias after the install. There was a new profile in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays and this new file is called Color LCD-4271780.icc.
The fix is to enable the old preferred profile using the ColorSync Utility. To do this I clicked on Devices, then Displays and changed the Current Profile to the old file. Voila! Fixed!
As to all the other problems I had before I read somewhere to install the Combo Updater instead of the 10.4.7 to 10.4.8 update and it worked as well.
If you have a MacBook I would avoid this update. All my windows look blue! It screws up some preference and no amount of ColorSync profiling can fix this. If I drag my Preferences folder onto the desktop and log out everything's fine. Then I start restoring my preferences and the blue metal/aqua windows come back.
There are a couple of discussions on the Apple Support webboard about this issue. Here are the RSS feeds:
http://discussions.apple.com/rss/rssmessages.jspa?threadID=668035
http://discussions.apple.com/rss/rssmessages.jspa?threadID=668418
Frustrating!
UPDATE: It seems like the update corrupts the LCD ColorSync profile. Someone on the Apple Discussion board uploaded the original profile. If you want the file let me know (unless someone knows how to host files in voxland?) It’s a little bit too red IMO but it’s better than the blue wash that appeared after the update.
Run the ColorSync Utility, Open the Original LCD profile and save it ~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles and call it Original LCD. Then open the Displays system prefpane and click on Color. You should see two Color LCD profiles. Click between them and you should see a difference.
Again, this is not a total fix yet.
More on 10.4.8 Problems: Some users are reporting hot MacBooks again.
UPDATE: Avoid this like the plague! Aside from what’s mentioned above, my internet connection slowed down and the MacBook was much hotter. I re-installed 10.4.6 and then updated that back to 10.4.7.
Apple have released a firmware update for the MacBooks. Apparently it significantly cools down the laptop and regulates the fans a lot better. I installed it this morning and I don’t if it’s subjective or not but my MacBook is cooler and quieter!
Go get it!
I’ve been using and buying Macs for decades... Mac SE, SE/30, Mac II, Mac IIci, LC, Bondi Blue iMac, G3 and dual mirror-fronted G4. It’s been three weeks since I bought my latest one, a Black MacBook with 2 gigs of RAM. And this one is by far the best and fastest I’ve ever owned.
It runs Final Cut faster than a dual G5. I had some reservations about the glossy widescreen but it is absolutely beautiful. Again, I had some reservations about the keyboard but I prefer it over the ProBooks’. The WiFi range is excellent. The iSight and PhotoBooth has wowed and won over my two lovely daughters (and my disk is full of their silly poses!). I’m impressed that the on-board graphics drive an external 23” monitor at 1920x1200.
Actually, a clarification: this is my second MacBook. The first one’s hinges started creaking whenever I move the screen around and it got incredibly hot. I took it back to the Apple Store on Regent Street fully expecting a battle to get it fixed. The guy behind the till tried opening the lid, heard the creaking and immediately agreed to replace it with a brand new one. And they moved my non-Apple-bought memory and all my data across to the new one. AND it was ready in two hours. Excellent, excellent service.
There you have it. Complete customer satisfaction. I’ve probably convinced three other people to buy one.
